Saturday, September 22, 2012

There will be a Central Coast housing Market Shift in the next coming 20 years. As baby boomers and their echo boomer children become homeowners, they will significantly effect the housing market. Echo Boomer children will make up approximately 65 million people born between 1981-1995. This will create a demographic challenge and opportunity.
The aging baby boomer population will swell the nation's senior population by 30 Million over the next 20 years.Typically people over the age of 65 are releasing more housing than they are absorbing, this demographic shift will help to increase the supply of housing. Currently we have a lack of affordable housing available for them to buy. With the economic downturn home construction was halted for over 7 years, creating a deficit in housing currently. With interest rates at record lows and banks wanting to lend money, buyers are competing for purchases on available homes on the market.

Generation Y, the Millennial Generation, Generation Next, Millennials, Net Generation or Echo Boomers. Whatever you want to call the world’s largest collection of twenty and thirty-somethings, they are coming to a town near you.

Saturday, September 15, 2012

I am a very big fan of Money Queen Suze Orman. On one of her recent shows, she had a wonderful idea about figuring out how much home can a new buyer afford. Today I'm going to give you the tools to figure that out by "Playing House."

Step #1
* Choose how much home you want to buy.
* Only start this process if you have 20% down on this home of your choice.
* Go online and use a mortgage calculator and online resources to figure out the following monthly expenses:
1. 30-year fixed rate monthly mortgage payment
2. Monthly Property taxes
3. Monthly Association Fees, (If it's a Condo, Mobile Home or PUD)
4. Monthly Home Owners Insurance
5. Monthly Home Maintenance (Yard, Periodic Painting, Termite Repairs, Roof, etc.)
*Total up all the costs for items 1-5, under step #1, and this will give you the total monthly cost of owning the home.

Step #2
* Use your total at the end of Step #1 and subtract it from the monthly rent you currently pay. This will give you the additional amount you currently would have to pay for a home of this price.

Step #3
* Start saving the additional amount you figured out at in Step #2 for 6 months.
* This will help you see what it feels like to own your own home.
* If this amount is too difficult, then you are purchasing too much house.
* If it's easy, you now have 6 months of saving to use towards your closing costs and down payment and you should call your favorite realtor, me, to begin your home search.

I hope this was helpful! This will also help you see if renting is comparable to the monthly cost of buying a home in this current market. Please comment below to give me feedback on this blog post.

My Official Websites

About Me

I know homes! Adding my ecoBroker and Real Estate licenses to my degree in Architecture and my credentials in LEED, Green Advantage & Sustainable Building, I have a unique ability as your real estate agent. You need a Realtor that thinks outside of the box and understands buying, selling and evaluating residential property, commericial buildings, estates or land while understanding zoning, permits, structures and materials.

I live in San Luis Obispo with my husband Rich Ferguson, a well known entertainer and creative consultant. We own our own home, have flipped property and have rental property. We come from families of investors, business owners, realtors and brokers.

I look forward to showing you how a real estate professional can make a big difference in your real estate experience! Please enjoy my blog.